


Zero Chill

by Snarcasm318



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: F/F, Friendship/Love, I'm too tired to think of tags, Trapped in the snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 08:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10532730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarcasm318/pseuds/Snarcasm318
Summary: One-shot. Inspired by Gail-shark's desire for Gail and Holly getting trapped in the snow and falling in love.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maryaun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maryaun/gifts).



> Apparently there is a need for more Golly getting trapped and falling in love fics. Here's my contribution to the cause...let me know what you think...

"Thanks for doing this." Gail tossed her duffel into the back of Holly's SUV.

Holly waited for the blonde to settle before she started up her car and pulled out of the station's parking lot. "Well when a damsel in distress texts you at the start of a blizzard it's kind of hard to ignore. Besides, what else are friends with four wheel drive for?"

"Yeah, well, tell that to the other people who claim to be my friends. They're all either home already or working the nightshift."

"Your shift doesn't normally end now?" They had been hanging out for a while, ever since that first day the blonde police officer had tried to kick the forensic pathologist out of their crime scene. In Gail's defense, Dr. Stewart had forgotten her I.D. badge that day. In Holly's, well, she was just really excited. While their playdates were frequent, they were also random at best considering the wonkiness of each one's schedule.

"Nah everyone else got off a few hours ago."

"Why not you?"

"I needed to finish a report about stupid people doing stupid things and getting caught." The staff sergeant had been on everyone's case that day about finishing their paperwork before the storm hit, knowing that chaos was just around the corner. Gail had been no exception.

Holly smiled, one side pulling up higher than the other. Gail's disdain for humanity amused her more than it probably should, but the other woman had laid her cards on the table that first day, blatantly telling the doctor she had just met that she simply hated people. That had been a good day. "I thought you normally do those right away?"

Gail shrugged, despite being slumped in the passenger seat, her blue eyes were carefully watching the street. The snow already steadily building on the pavement. "Yeah, I guess I got a little busy today."

"See now I really owe you, you did bring me hot chocolate today."

It had been a pleasant surprise when the pale police officer had shown up to her lab with a pink nose and cheeks, complaining about wet boots and long lines with her chapped lips (not that Holly had noticed those), before coaxing the pathologist out to the hall and handing over the warm beverage matching her own. The two women had gotten distracted talking, until the alert on one of Holly's machines had dragged them both back to their jobs. Losing track of time seemed to be a habit of theirs whenever they were together, if they were being honest.

But Gail waved it off, "Of course I did, it's snowing, and you needed a break. Anyone ever tell you you work too hard?"

"Most of my ex-girlfriends, usually before dumping me."

Gail snorted, she wasn't sure if Holly was just kidding, but there was something in the tone that said that had probably happened to the doctor on more than one occasion. "Well, they're stupid."

"Anyway, thank you again for the chocolate fix, although I maintain no one human being needs that many marshmallows in their mug."

"Holly, it's hot chocolate on a snowy day, everyone needs that many marshmallows. Come on, you have like twenty degrees with your name on them, how do you not know this?"

"Must have missed that lecture in med school. It was probably right between cardiovascular disease and diabetes."

Gail rolled her eyes, but had to hide her grin. It was refreshing to have a friend who could keep up with her brand of humor so effortlessly. "You're such a nerd."

Holly just shrugged, not bothering to disagree with something she knew was true. Plus, she had learned by then that being called a nerd by Gail Peck was practically a sign of affection.

The lightness dropped when a red sports car suddenly flew by them, going way too fast for the weather.

"Whoa!" Holly clenched the steering wheel harder. The brunette hated driving in bad weather, it was why she had opted for a car that could handle the Toronto winter when she moved back to town.

Gail straightened up in her seat, scowling at the reckless driver as he disappeared into the darkness. "Fucking asshole is lucky I'm not on the clock. He's going to kill somebody driving like that."

"It's really coming down now." Holly pointed out, it was getting significantly more difficult to see the further they went. "If you want you can just crash at my house tonight and then I can drive us both in tomorrow. Pretty sure you still have clothes in the guest room."

"Are you implying something?"

"Yeah, maybe I should start charging rent."

"Please, this is just your way of getting me to U-haul. I knew lesbians moved fast I just didn't realize it was this quick."

"Yeah and how exactly do you -"

Holly's words broke as she the sight of the wrecked red car flipped over in the middle of the road came into view. She hadn't seen it coming around the bend causing her to swerve at the last second. But the streets were slick and there was nothing she could do to stop them from spinning out.

* * *

"Jesus fuck ow." Gail blinked, her eyes adjusting to the darkness.

"Are you okay?" Holly asked, turning to look at her companion and gasping slightly when she felt pain shoot down her shoulder.

"Fuck," Gail complained again, the right side of her body hurt as she started to move, but nothing seemed broken. She would definitely feel it more in the morning, and her pale skin would be black and blue in no time. "Yeah, I think so, are you?"

"Ugh, yeah."

"When I said that guy was going to kill someone I hadn't meant us."

It was dark, the car had slipped into a bank off the road. The snow that had fallen that day had piled high onto the ice and remnants of the previous winter storms. And the fresh powder was already coating the car, and covering their windows. The engine had died sometime during the descent and Holly tried in vain to restart it.

"Come on." Holly muttered to herself, but the engine refused to turn over, the puttering barely audible over the wind howling around them. "Shit."

Gail tried to open her door, but it wouldn't budge. "Double shit." She threw her already sore shoulder against it a little harder, but no luck.

Holly did the same on her side, fairing no better.

"Okay what the fuck are we going to do now?"

Holly glanced around, squinting out the windshield, but all she could see was the swirling white in the darkness around them. She had lost all sense of direction. "Any idea where we are?"

"We spun out probably 20 meters from marker 36 on 2A."

"How do you know that?"

Gail sighed, "It's something that cops do when they're driving. They cover the map and make you quickly recite the crossroads you're on." She had been doing it since she was old enough to look at a map. Peck basic training.

Holly picked up on something in the blonde's tone. "Kind of sounds like you had a lot of experience doing that."

"It's not just my parents who are cops, Holly. The Pecks have been in Toronto Policing for as long as Toronto has had police. They didn't exactly leave work at work."

"Oh. Well that's pretty sucky."

Gail snorted. "It's not as bad as getting dropped at a convenience store in the middle of the woods when you're twelve and needing to find your way back to your family's cabin by yourself." She was a little surprised at herself for sharing that story with someone she barely knew. Chris hadn't learned about it until they had dated long enough to meet the parents. Nick heard the story shortly before Vegas. Both of those confidences had turned out so well for her. And yet, for some reason, she felt like she could trust Holly more than she ever could either of the idiotic boys.

Holly's heart clenched at the bitter resignation in her friend's voice. "Please tell me they didn't really do that to you."

"Peck family tradition."

"I am so sorry, Gail."

Gail shrugged off the concern, "Guess it worked though." She looked around for her phone finding it wedged between the door and the seat, falling out of her hand on their descent. Even if she could use it, assuming she had any reception, the screen was cracked beyond the point where she could see the icons. "Well this is useless. How's yours? Do you have any service?"

"I have one bar."

"Good enough." Gail fired off a text to Chris and anyone else working she could think of with their location. She impatiently watched the green bar slowly fill, hovering just before completion. She let out a sigh of relief when it claimed to be sent.

"Guess now we wait." Holly accepted her phone back, switching it off of silent, and turning up the ringer volume.

"And try not to freeze to death."

"I think we have a little time before then." Even though, with no engine, it probably wouldn't be long before the cabin caved to the ambient temperature. It was probably better not to think about that at the moment.

But Gail shivered none the less, she was pretty sure she was already feeling the chill. "Isn't this the part where we figure out a way to conserve body heat?"

"Kind of forward of you, Officer." Holly teased, she was just joking even though the idea of curling up with the blonde was more than appealing. It was impossible not to notice the lean body, that managed to stay fit despite Gail's abhorrence of exercise and propensity for doughnuts. But she wasn't supposed to be thinking about her friend that way. No, she had firmly told herself that the blonde was straight and that they were only ever going to be just friends. She had been reminding herself of these things for weeks (even though that hadn't been enough to stop Gail from invading her dreams, but she couldn't be responsible for her subconscious).

"What? No." Gail backpedaled a little too quickly. "I was just saying. You know if this were a movie then it's the part where the characters would get naked to keep each other warm. " Okay, she was digging herself a bigger grave. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about getting naked with her friend. The same friend who had kissed her at the wedding of her boss, who she knew was into women, and who she hadn't stopped thinking about since they first met. And if she were being honest (she wasn't, she was definitely, wholeheartedly lying to herself) she had probably replayed the kiss in her head way more than was necessary. It had just been a friendly peck after all. Just friends kissing friends, on the lips, in a coat closet. The champagne was to blame. For sure. She cleared her throat, "So I guess it's a good thing this isn't a movie."

"Guess so. But in the movie the characters would be rescued in no time."

"True." She glanced at Holly's blank screen. "They aren't texting back."

Holly hit the home button, dread settling in when she noticed the message in the top left corner. "Looks like my service is out now."

"Great, we're going to freeze to death."

"We're not going to freeze to death. I'm sure someone at 15 is at least on their way here."

"Holly, we don't even know if they got that message. And even if they did the visibility is shit and the snow has probably already covered our tracks."

"It hasn't been that long." Holly tried to remain optimistic. "We just need-we just need to distract ourselves."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

* * *

They had already worked their way through "I spy", "tic-tac-toe", and "20 questions". It turned out Gail had the attention span of a gnat when it came to playing car games, and if her mind wasn't kept occupied then she quickly slipped into dark thoughts about their situation. It didn't help being locked in a tiny tin can again when the last time that had happened it had been the trunk of a serial killer and before that Chris had been bleeding out right in front of her. So Gail and closed spaces really didn't mix well.

Holly though had been doing her best to keep her out of that place, whether she knew it or not. Seeming to pick up on the blonde's moods as quickly as they shifted. Realizing that established games weren't working, Holly had decided that going back to the game they played at the wedding of asking each other random questions was probably the only thing left to do.

"I don't really do girl talk. Or you know talking in general." Gail pointed out when Holly suggested it.

"Hmm…"

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I just never really - I don't think we have that problem. You seem to not really have any problems talking around me."

"Yeah...I guess." It was true. There was something so easy about talking to Holly. She put Gail at ease in a way no one else seemed to. Even when they weren't talking, she was comfortable to be around. Whether it was sitting on a stool in the lab for hours or hanging out on the brunette's couch. Gail enjoyed herself more anytime she was with Holly than anyone else she knew. She just wasn't sure what exactly that meant.

"I'll let you go first, you can ask me anything you want to know."

"Okay, why did you become a doctor and you can't say it's because you want to help people."

Holly had to admit it was her go to answer. Countless interviews and dates and it was just the easiest explanation. After all it was what people expected. "Well, I always liked science. It was always the most fascinating thing to me, understanding how things worked, how they were connected, doing experiments. It was hands on and in case you haven't noticed I tend to like to be able to do things. I had trouble growing up understanding people, and I don't know, connecting sometimes. So what better way to figure them out than through medicine."

"That's very strange."

"'Well you asked, and yes, I did go into medicine to help people, it just turned out that I really didn't care for most of the fields. Pathology offered me everything I wanted."

"Cool."

"How'd you learn sign language?"

"You really want to know?" Gail was confused. No one ever wanted to know why. They were always just surprised that she could. But like anything Gail was capable of, people just assumed things, except Holly. Holly asked questions, she reasoned, she learned. Maybe that was why Gail liked her more than the others. Maybe.

"I asked, didn't I?" Holly sassed.

Or maybe it was that. Maybe it was the fact that Holly could give as good as she got and while she gave Gail plenty of leniency, she was also good at calling her on her shit.

"When I was in elementary school, there was this girl in my class who was hard of hearing. Mary Rivers. She could sign and read lips and she had an interpreter, but that didn't really help on the playground you know? Some of the other kids would pick on her, especially this one kid, Johnny Mazzuti. He was such a dick. He had been in her face, calling her names, and making fun of her about not being able to hear him. So I told him to knock it off and he threatened to knock me out. And after he went to the nurse with the bloody nose I gave him, my parents got involved. I spent the month grounded and learning sign language and later I'd hang out with Mary and she helped me learn more."

Maybe it was just easier talking in the car, there were no interruptions, no distractions, no one but them. And it was easy between them. Easy to talk, to share, to just be themselves. And maybe it was just friendship, but maybe there was something more. Something seemed to be brewing and while Holly chalked it up to wishful thinking, Gail still wasn't sure what it was because she hadn't felt like this around anyone before. Even with the guys she had dated, it never felt quite...quite like this.

"So you've been protecting people your whole life."

"I don't like bullies, Holly."

"Wish I had had someone like you around growing up."

"People bullied you?"

"I've been wearing glasses since I was seven. I usually got top marks in all my classes. And had a weird obsession with science. It also probably didn't help that even before I really realized I was a lesbian, I was never one of the girls to gossip about the boys I liked."

"Well your peers were idiots. Please tell me you rub it in their faces how successful you are at reunions."

"Haven't gone to one yet. But when you put it that way..."

"Well maybe you should bring me to the next one and then I can do it for you."

There was something in Holly's smile that Gail couldn't quite place. Something almost...wistful? But that would be weird, right?

"Maybe."

* * *

Somehow they had ended up in the backseat. It would be more comfortable, one suggested. And they had settled close together. It was cold, the other had reasoned. And by now they had created an intimate bubble. Or the snow had anyway. Because it was dark, and it was cold, and the longer they were out there without any sign of help, it just became easier and easier to talk. To delve deeper, to reveal more. They covered embarrassing moments, greatest fears, regrets, what they wanted in the future. And they kept talking, it was almost enough to forget that they were waiting to be rescued, that they were trapped, and that the longer they were there the worse the situation became.

Holly laughed as Gail's face remained contorted after the brunette explained how she had recently signed up for a triathalon.

"Why in the hell would you voluntarily subject yourself to that?" Even though Gail knew that Holly was fit, having caught sight of the doctor's muscles on more than one occasion hanging around her.

"Well, I am trying new things."

"Like being a plus one to the wedding of someone else's boss."

"That would be one instance, yes."

"Did you really go dancing?"

"When?" Holly tried to keep up with the blonde's constantly derailing trains of thought.

"That night. The night of the wedding, after...you know…" They had skirted around the topic time and again. So Gail wasn't sure why she was bringing it up now, but she wanted to know. She wanted to know what had been going through Holly's head that night. She knew what had gone through her own, and what she had thought about after, and over the last few weeks, but what she didn't know, what she needed to know, she needed to be told.

"Oh, um yeah, I met my friends Rachel and Lisa at a club."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd you take off like that?"

"I don't know. Probably just a had little too much champagne. Alcohol is usually the fuel I need to bust a move." Holly had never been more thankful for tan skin and the cover of night before. They were the only things preventing Gail from seeing the embarrassed blush adorning her cheeks.

"You don't have moves."

"I have plenty of moves, you've just never seen them," Holly teased, her voice a little more sultry than before.

It caused Gail to swallow a little harder. "You didn't have to. Run, I mean."

Holly sighed, that entire night had been amazing. Gail in her gold dress, and all the talking, and laughing, and flirting, and champagne. Being surrounded by co-workers and strangers, Gail had stayed close to her side the entire night to whisper comments about everyone around them. And then Gail had pulled her away from the others, snagging a bottle of champagne along the way, carving out a space for just them, and as always it became something else entirely. But Holly knew better than to hang her heart on hidden memories like that. Especially ones that she instigated. "Kinda felt like a good choice at the moment."

"Why?"

"Kissing your straight friend is even more of a cliché than the backpacks and fleece you were teasing me about."

"Oh...right."

They grew quiet, the only noise the was the raging wind as snow continued to insulate them from everything else. It was the longest stretch of silence between them the entire time. Each woman thinking about the night in question, neither knowing how the other one felt about it.

"Has there ever been something that you've been too afraid to do?" Holly's voice had grown more quiet, almost as if she herself were too scared to ask.

Gail thought about it. There were some easy answers, so many things she had been afraid of in her life. So many decisions, and actions, and choices dictated by that fear. Fear of disappointment, fear of rejection, fear of being herself, fear of being happy.

She shifted her weight, so that she could see the other woman better. Holly didn't move, letting the blonde scrutinize her every feature. She was as patient as ever, waiting for Gail to answer her question. There was always something so open about the doctor, so inviting. Holly Stewart was interesting. She was smart, she was weird, and Gail liked her. She liked spending time with her. She went out of her way to see her, she thought about her when she wasn't around, and she had tried to tell herself it was just that she needed a new friend. But that didn't explain why her heart sped up a little faster whenever she saw Holly's name (or rather nickname) on her phone, why her lips still tingled when she thought the brief kiss, why she felt butterflies in her stomach when she thought about doing it again. No, having a friend doesn't feel like that.

So the answer to the question, the thing that scared her the most, was sitting right in front of her.

"Gail, are you o-" Holly's words were halted as Gail's lips collided with hers. It wasn't like when Holly had interrupted her line of "straight girl" questions with a soft brush of her lips before calling her insane. This was a real kiss. Gail Peck was kissing her and for a second Holly was too stunned by the sudden turn to even kiss her back, but when Gail started to pull away, Holly pressed in, not wanting for it to end.

When they broke apart, even Gail looked a little surprised by her own actions. But she stayed close, still cupping Holly's cheeks, not ready to let go yet.

"What uh-what was that for?" Holly whispered between them.

"Show and tell." Seeing the confusion on Holly's face, Gail continued. "I don't want to die having not done that, Holly."

"We're not going to die."

"You don't know that. It's been too long since we sent that message. They should have found us by now."

Gail was right. It had already been much longer than they expected and without any means of communication and a dead car, things really weren't looking pretty. So if this really was it, Holly wasn't going to waste what time she had second guessing any of it. She looked down at Gail's lips and back up into those blue eyes that stood out even in the dark before slowing closing the small gap between them. She stopped just before she reached Gail's lips, giving the blonde a chance to back out, but Gail didn't hesitate to cross the remaining distance.

And then it was easy to forget the situation, that they were on the precipice of freezing to death, when hungry lips were accompanied by wandering hands, and the restriction of the car seat made pressing against one another almost necessary. It was all cold skin and warm tongues, causing time to stand still.

It could have been minutes or hours before the sound of loud voices and the flashing of lights caused the women to break apart. They were still trying to catch their breaths when a tapping on the window caused them both to jump.

After Oliver and Chris got them out of the snow bank, and bundled into blankets they gave quick statements on the accident. The snow and trying to deal with the other car and driver had been the cause of the delay in reaching them.

"Peck, you okay?" Oliver asked as he noticed his friend distracted as they stood outside the squad car waiting for Chris and Holly to finish examining her car. The blue eyes hadn't strayed from the other woman since the moment they left the now abandoned vehicle.

"Yep. Sure."

"So that's your friend from the forensic lab."

With absolutely no chill, Gail snapped, "The car died, Oliver, if you really must know!"

Despite his confusion at the random outburst, Oliver decided it wouldn't be the right time to press the subject. "Right. How about we get you to someplace warm?"

* * *

It was decided by both Chris and Oliver that it would be better for Holly to stay at the frathouse that night. It was hard to argue with Chris's reasoning that he would be able to drive them both into work if they needed and that it would be easier to help Holly get her car out of the snow after the storm.

So the officers dropped them off before returning to their shifts and other victims of Mother Nature. Finally alone, neither woman really knew what to say. So they didn't talk much as they moved around the empty apartment, each taking a turn at a hot shower, before settling for some soup to try to remove the remaining chill from their bones. But it was still awkward, an underlying tension between them that hadn't existed before.

They had already cleaned up the kitchen and settled onto the couch, a wide berth between them.

It was Holly who finally broke the silence, taking it upon herself to rip off the bandaid. "Look, I get it, Gail. It was the heat of the moment, or rather the cold, and it doesn't have to mean anything."

The blonde had been staring off into her apartment, thinking about everything that had happened that night, but she suddenly found herself snapping to attention. She looked at Holly, really looked at her, and could see the insecurity behind the brown eyes, despite the smile she seemed to be forcing. Holly was giving her an out, a way to write off the night as nothing more than two people in a desperate situation. But she didn't want an out, because this, them, together, it felt right. In fact, it was the first time she really felt anything in over a year. And she didn't want to go back. Not now. Not when she knew what things could be like. "You're right. Things were intense then." She shifted closer to the other woman, feeling more settled as soon as she was back in her orbit. She couldn't stop herself from glancing at Holly's lips, "So what does it mean if I want to do it again?"

"You- you do?"

"I mean only if you want to, of course."

"Of..of course."

So Gail tentatively moved forward again, her lips softly meeting Holly's in the gentlest kiss of the night. And it was different from before, fueled by something else entirely, but the intensity was still there, the way her heart beat rapidly in her chest, the way her entire body felt a rush of both anticipation and want. A contented sigh slipped from her lips as the kiss ended.

"Are you still going to feel this way in the morning?" Holly asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"God, I hope so." And Gail couldn't wait to close the gap between them again. One kiss give way to another and another. Their pace picking up quickly,

It was Holly who forcefully broke away, though it physically pained her to do so. "Wait, wait a second."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't-I don't know that I can do this."

Insecurity immediately seeping into her lust-addled brain. "You don't want me."

"No, Gail, that's not it. I can't lose you. And I don't want you to turn around and regret...anything."

"Holly, I don't think I could ever regret anything to do with you." Gail told her with uncharacteristic sincerity.

"You say that now, but I've been here before." Burned. Holly had been burned in the past more than once by women who claimed they wanted her, who would kiss her, or sleep with her, or date her then regret it in the end. Whether it was the next day or the next month, maybe the next year, they would take back their feelings and leave Holly with nothing more than a bruised ego and much more fragile heart.

"And you think I'm just like those other people."

The blonde was a force of her own, a tempest, an enigma, a siren that Holly couldn't resist. "You're not like anyone I've ever known." she told her honestly.

"And neither are you. I don't want to wake up a sad, sorry old woman who wasted her life being too scared to be with the most wonderful person she's ever met."

"Gail…" But she kissed the brunette again. Stopping Holly's protests for just a while longer. If she couldn't make Holly understand with her words, she would use her actions. So she poured everything she was feeling into the kiss.

Holly sighed when they broke apart, settling her forehead against Gail's. "I don't want to either."

So Gail kissed her again, in the comfort of the quiet apartment, as the snow swirled around them once more. There was no danger, no fear, no regrets, just them and a world of possibilities.


End file.
